A Holocaust Remembrance

"It was all too much. I was a young boy, a simple foot soldier moving from one day to the next. I just wanted to get away from that place, away from smelling death."

If you were part of the hundred plus crowd at the Spring Hill Public Library on March 25th, you may have been able to catch this year’s annual Holocaust Remembrance program, which featured local speaker Jimmy Gentry from Franklin. Gentry told his amazing story, which includes not only the combat he saw at the Battle of the Bulge, but also the liberation of the concentration camp Dachau. The entire nation pauses to remember the Holocaust during Holocaust Remembrance Week (Days of Remembrance) on April 27 - May 4, 2014.

"Get the guards and get out.” Jimmy recalls his horror, "I couldn't move, and though I knew what I had to do, I was numb at the same time.” He knew that soldiers died in war, "but non-soldiers? Just people? Religious people? I can't understand it. Not then, not now."

In case you missed his presentation at Spring Hill Public Library, the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) has recorded interviews with Gentry taken for TSLA’s "Living On" project, which highlights Tennesseans who were victims of the Holocaust or affected in some other significant way himself. The quotes above are taken from this project. TSLA also has a copy of Gentry’s book, An American Life. Gentry’s story is truly amazing.

TSLA wishes to thank the Spring Hill Public Library for recognizing Gentry, his story, and for engaging their local community in the telling of a part of history that all Tennesseans should know.

The State Library and Archives is a division of the Tennessee Department of State and Tre Hargett, Secretary of State.